Eight Months Old!

Here are a few amazing things that our Amazing Grace has done and loved this past month:

• Standing! Grace was standing for ~10 seconds at the beginning of the month and now is able to stand well over a minute. Grace also stands and reaches down to pick up dropped objects.
• Cruising along the furniture
• Crawling from room to room to explore, play, and chase our cats
• Kneeling
• Grace has recently been trying to take steps to walk....look out Mommy & Daddy!
• Grace loves finger foods. Her favorites are cereal, tofu, and soft fruits & vegetables
• Grace now uses her fingers (pincer grasp) to pick up very, very tiny objects
  
• Lots of babbling and imitation of some sounds and facial expressions
  
• Squealing loudly to express happiness and excitement
  
• The most exciting development for us this past month is that Grace has started to produce word approximations including: "Eh-buh" for her beloved Ella the Elephant, "buh" for bug, "bah" for ball, "ah-puh" for apple, "puh" for pop (during bubble play), "em" for Emma
  
• Waving hello and bye-bye!
  
• Grace now has a total of six teeth (four on top, two on the bottom)
  
• Swimming lessons all month at the Y with Mommy - we both love it!
  
• Grace continues to recognize more & more words, objects, and pictures every day
  
• Grace is responding to simple directions such as "look," "come," "come up," & "listen" (Grace stops moving and turns her head slightly when she hears "listen")
  
• Grace now understands what a buckle does. It keeps her in her feeding seat and car seat but it can also let her out! Grace frequently touches the buckles when she wants to get out!
  
• Grace's hair has started to curl in the back! :)
  
• Favorite things: ladybugs, balls, blocks, swimming, music/dancing, the IKEA step stool, farm animals, and most of all books! Grace and I read books for an hour (or more) every day - she can't get enough of them. We include books in all of Grace's everyday activities.